At first in shock for a moment, Zalair ducked in a forward roll from the blade slicing at him horizontally. Then he became serious as he stood around and flipped backward to avoid another hit. His feet slipped on the snow, sliding him backwards into a bush.

“Whoa, cold!” Zalair yelped, getting up quickly.

“Take that!” the man shouted, swinging from over his head down at the bush.

Zalair was just too fast for the man. He jumped up to the right, and turned halfway round, plucking up a spare sword.

“Come get me!” Zalair smirked.

Annoyed to no end, the man swung his sword at Zalair. Parry from the left, the right, above and below. Zalair was just too good.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Zalair chuckled, “How lame. I mastered all those moves long ago. How about this one?”

Zalair swung his sword up from the ground at an angle, hitting the sword safely out of the man’s hand. With a clank, the sword fell to the ground by the dummy, and Zalair’s sword was against the man’s throat.

“Go ahead and kill me, assassin!” he shouted.

“Assassin?”

“Only an assassin would be as good as you!”

Zalair felt like rolling his eyes, but didn’t. “I didn’t come here to kill you.”

“Ah! Stop that right now, Princes!” came a man’s voice.

“Scholar Mack!” the man shouted, as the other came running in.

“Prince Keigo, how dare you attack Prince Zalair upon his first hour here!”

“Prince… Zalair?” the man stared at Zalair. Zalair pulled the sword back, swung it around his wrist then slammed it blade first into the ground. “What are you doing here?”

“Seeking out my future fiancée,” Zalair answered, resting his weight on the hilt of the sword. “So where’s your sister?”

“Her fiancée killed her,” he said with a glare at Zalair. Then he walked off with a huff.

Zalair smirked after the man, then looked to the scholar. “So, then, who is it I’m to marry?”

“Prince Keigo, the heir, of course,” the scholar answered with a nod.

Zalair’s fatigue, and the shock, finally set in. He fell over backwards into the snow unconscious.

“Prince Zalair!” was the last thing he heard from the world of reality.